White put away 21 kills and Brewer stonewalled her way to 18 blocks Tuesday night as Galax took an important Mountain Empire District volleyball win, knocking off Grayson County 25-14, 20-25, 25-23, 25-15.

First it was Princeton then it was Grayson County. You can add Galax to the list. The Maroon Tide outmuscled and outplayed the G-Men on their way to a 45-14 Mountain Empire District win on Friday night at Mitchell Stadium.

Galax had waited for what seemed like forever for a volleyball win over Carroll County. Waiting a couple more extra games didn’t dampen the enthusiasm once the victory came.

The Maroon Tide jumped out to a quick two sets-to-none lead but would find itself playing for more than an hour longer before it finally subdued the Cavaliers, earning an emotional 25-16, 25-22, 23-25, 19-25, 15-11 nondistrict win Monday. The win avenged the Maroon Tide’s only defeat of the season thus far, a 3-0 Carroll County decision in August.

HILLSVILLE –– After six weeks and five losses – including four painfully close misses – Carroll County finally got to walk off the field smiling last week.

Making it two in a row will be a tall task indeed.

Seven-time defending district champion Richlands (7-0 overall, 1-0 district) rumbles into town tonight sporting a 23-game Southwest District winning streak as it takes on Carroll County (1-5, 1-0). The Blue Tornadoes are 35-1 in district play since a 16-6 loss to Carroll County in 2003.

For a guy with an NFL background coaching the third highest-rated Group A team in the western half of Virginia, Mark Dixon’s credibility has taken a beating the past month or so.

That’s part of the reason Galax has constructed a VHSL rating that stands behind only Grayson County and J.I. Burton in the Western Division.

Dixon fully expected a battle with Radford a few weeks ago. The result? A 43-0 Tide win. He all but stated last week that he wouldn’t be surprised if Fort Chiswell ruined Galax’s spotless record Friday. Boom: 52-0.

HILLSVILLE –– It took Carroll County a game to get it going but the Cavaliers stormed from behind to pick up their first Southwest District win, 24-26, 25-16, 25-21, 25-20 Thursday over Abingdon.

The Falcons jumped out to a huge lead in the first set before Carroll County (8-5 overall, 1-2 district) tied the game at 23-all. Abingdon won the final two points to take the first set but the momentum from the comeback stayed with the Cavaliers, who evened the match with a 25-16 second-set win.

INDEPENDENCE –– Grayson County led 7-3 early in the first quarter before exploding for 28 unanswered points by the half, and the Blue Devils rolled to a 41-3 win over Graham in a Mountain Empire District game Friday.

Fullback Darren Anderson broke free on a 74-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 Grayson County lead 41 seconds into the game, but Graham (2-4 overall, 0-1 MED) answered with a 34-yard field goal by Samuel Stowers three minutes later.

The rest of the half belonged to Grayson County, starting with the ensuing kickoff.